The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure [Rule 30(b)(4)] and state Rules of Civil Procedure provide that an oral deposition may be taken by video tape. When an audio-video recording of a witness is made, it is common practice that it be accompanied with a stenographic record. The stenographic record is used to handle the objections to the video deposition and assures a record in case of a faulty video tape recording. A video tape presentation of testimony allows a jury to see, hear and evaluate the witness. The jury observes the witness' manner and appearance, his frankness and sincerity, and his demeanor and responsiveness to the questions.
The video tape deposition is taken in places outside of the courtroom, such as a doctor's office and like places. In many situations, the deposition is accompanied by demonstrative evidence as graphs, diagrams, schematic drawings, charts, and other visual materials. The video tape is particularly effective when demonstrative evidence is used because the witness can mark and demonstrate on the exhibits in the same manner that he would do during the course of the trial. The video tape camera operator can zoom in on the exhibits so that the attention of the jury is brought directly to the exhibit.
The video tape deposition transcript is reviewed in the pre-trial. Objections to all or portions of the transcript are noted and ruled on by the court. The objectionable parts of the video tape which have been sustained by the court must be withheld from the jury. It is conventional practice for the video tape operator or reporter to make a second video tape, editing out the sustained objectionable parts of the original video tape. The original video tape is retained in its original form in the event that there was error in the court's ruling on the inadmissibility or admissibility on portions of the tape or the entire video tape. The construction of a second video tape is a timely and costly procedure. It is also a practice to have the reporter turn off the monitors to delete the objectionable portions of the tape during a trial. When the monitor or monitors are turned on, there is a delay in forming the image on the monitor and in some instances the image must be readjusted. There is also a flickering of the image displayed by the monitor when it is turned on. This interrupts the trial and is annoying to the jurors. The judge is provided with a second monitor to view and hear the audio and visual presentation as it is presented to the jury.